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Evidence given to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Artificial Intelligence: Evidence Meeting 1 – Data 22 January 2018

Tim Pullan, founder & CEO of ThoughtRiver was invited to give evidence to the All Parliamentary Group for Artificial Intelligence Data Meeting on the 22nd January 2018. The full report from this meeting at The House of Lords and our involvement in it has now been published.

He summarised the 3 key areas of importance as:

The generation of data-driven knowledge should be encouraged as a driver of both our economy and our liberal enlightened society. It is both a public and private good

Citizens need to be protected against the purposes for which data-driven knowledge can be used. Data protection law does not provide effective protection

Encouraging the growth of data driven innovation whilst protecting citizens is not incompatible. But it does require radical thinking

Dom Hudson, Lead Intelligence Architect at ThoughtRiver also attended a follow up event at The House of Lords and gives his thoughts below:

“I recently attended an event at the House of Lords on the Future of Artificial Intelligence in the UK. This follows the Lords AI Select Committee’s recent report: “AI in the UK: Ready, Willing, and Able?”.

On the other side of an intimidating security screening, we were greeted with an impressive series of hosts and panellists:

The hosts prompted the panel with a number of issues across a range of topics:

How best can we educate upcoming generations for an increasingly AI-augmented future.

The difficulty and ethical issues which arise when balancing model performance against transparency, especially with regard to sectors such as healthcare.

Balancing the right for individuals to own and control their data with the right of the community to access superior AI-enabled services.

Many interesting points were raised – I especially enjoyed a point made by Paul Clarke on promoting a more modern educational system which nurtures our innate desire to learn rather than exploiting it for textbook regurgitation.

All in all, I was honoured and humbled to have been part of the event”.